Tag: Cardiology

Abbott won its first FDA approval for a magnetic resonance-conditional labeling for one of its implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD), the Ellipse. Additionally, Tendril MRI pacing lead, as well as Durata and Optisure high voltage leads that are compatible with the Ellipse, are also approved to be safe inside an MRI machine as long (Read more...)

Abiomed won FDA approval for its Impella RP heart pump, the first percutaneous temporary ventricular support device indicated for right heart failure. The device moves blood from the inferior vena cava into the pulmonary artery, doing the work of the right ventricle. It’s inserted via the femoral vein and pushed up and through the r (Read more...)

Researchers have developed a laser device that can tell in real time whether tissues in the body are receiving enough oxygen. The laser system relies on resonance Raman spectroscopy, and could help doctors to predict cardiac arrest, as low oxygen levels in heart muscle is a warning sign that the heart could stop pumping. “With current [& (Read more...)

Clarius Mobile Health, a Canadian firm, is a pioneering company specializing in portable solutions for ultrasound diagnostics. Since its debut, it has surprised and impressed us with its tiny portable ultrasounds. Clarius offers the only app-based, wireless ultrasound scanner that can be taken to the point of care even in the most rugge (Read more...)

Masimo won FDA clearance and just announced full market release of its Rad-97 Pulse CO-Oximeter. It’s available as is, or with either a built-in blood pressure cuff or a capnography (CO2) attachments. The monitor comes with Masimo’s well established Measure-through Motion and Low Perfusion SET pulse oximetry and its rainbow&nb (Read more...)

Hitachi has announced that the FDA granted the company clearance for its Supria True64 CT scanner. The device is designed to take less room in a busy clinical environment and to provide a 64-slice image quality using a 40 mm detector and 64 separate detector and electronics processing channels. Hitachi notes that many compact CT scanners [&hel (Read more...)

NuVasive, a company based in San Diego, California, is now making available its LessRay radiation dose-reduction system. It consists of a computer cart that connects to an operating room’s fluoroscopy system. The fluoroscope can be set to a lower level of X-ray exposure, and the LessRay, using its proprietary software algorithms, then correct (Read more...)

As we develop a wide array of new implantable, injectable, and swallowable medical devices, the need to accurately track their location within the body becomes ever more critical. Currently, ultrasound, electromagnetism, and other methods are employed to track objects introduced into the body, but these modalities suffer from a number of imperfecti (Read more...)

A group of researchers in California has developed a smartphone app that can be used to evaluate some aspects of heart health, potentially replacing in some cases more complicated procedures like ultrasound or MRI. In patients with heart failure it is important for doctors to assess how effective the heart is at pumping blood around […]

HeartSciences, a firm based outside of Dallas, Texas, is releasing in Europe its MyoVista high sensitivity electrocardiograph (hsECG) device that helps to screen patients for cardiac disease. It relies on a mathematical method known as continuous wavelet transform to process ECG data in a manner very different than conventional ECG. The c (Read more...)

At the Rambam Health Care Campus in Israel, a new device has just been implanted for the first time in a patient with diastolic heart failure. The CORolla device from CorAssist Cardiovascular, a company based in Haifa, Israel, is designed to help the left ventricle open up to a greater volume during the diastolic filling […]

Abbott received FDA approval for its HeartMate 3 left ventricular assist device (LVAD), a pump designed to augment cardiac output in patients with severe heart failure that are waiting for their heart to recover or that are in line for a transplant. Featuring the “Full MagLev”, as the technology is called by Abbott, the HeartMate [&hell (Read more...)

Users of CPAP machines end up maintaining the system by having to clean the mask, the accompanying air tube, and humidifier. Not only this is a hassle, but for many patients with sleep apnea this may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, causing them to abandon the therapy. As CPAP is impressively effective […]

Medtronic won CE Mark approval to introduce its Attain Stability Quad MRI SureScan left heart lead in Europe. The device works with the company’s quadripolar cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillators (CRT-D) and CRT-pacemakers (CRT-P) and is not only a conduit for electric current, but also a tool for the electricity to better target c (Read more...)

BIOTRONIK has obtained an FDA approval for its Edora HF-T QP MR conditional quadripolar cardiac resynchronization therapy pacemaker (CRT-P). It’s tiny, by comparison to similar devices, and features the BIOTRONIK’s MR AutoDetect technology that allows a physician to tell the implant that an MRI exam is coming up and for the device (Read more...)

Scientists at the University of Toronto have developed a bandage-like patch that can be delivered into the heart through a needle, in combination with stem cells allowing for minimally invasive cardiac tissue repair, currently an impossible task. After a massive heart attack, myocardial tissue damage can significantly reduce the cardiac output. One (Read more...)

Existing and commonly used automatic blood pressure meters suffer from inaccuracies. An old fashioned auscultatory blood pressure test can avoid inaccurate results, but it has to be performed by a medical professional. Now researchers at the Jerusalem College of Technology in Israel have developed a new method that may be more accurate than co (Read more...)

AUM Cardiovascular, a company out of Northfield, Minnesota, won FDA clearance for its CADence system, which is a novel combination of a stethoscope and ECG in one device. The CADence is intended to be used by primary care physicians to help spot suspicious cardiac murmurs that should be referred to cardiologists. The physician places the devic (Read more...)

Medtronic today announced FDA approval and European CE marking of the company’s Avalus pericardial aortic surgical valve. The device is currently the only stented surgical aortic valve that does not limit patients’ ability to undergo MRI scans, and whole body scans are allowed as there are absolutely no restrictions and no rel (Read more...)

Medtronic won the European CE Mark and is introducing its CoreValve Evolut PRO transcatheter aortic valve in Europe for patients with severe aortic stenosis who are considered at intermediate, high, or extreme risk of not doing well from an open heart surgery. The Evolut PRO features an external porcine pericardial tissue wrap that helps (Read more...)